The Infection
by SolitaireSilverthorn
Summary: A group of survivors struggle to keep their lives in the apocalypse.  rated M just to be safe.
1. The Apocalypse

Zombies. That was it. The infection had started a few years ago. December 21st, 2012. The infection was spreading. Every being in this god forsaken world was becoming a bloodthirsty monster. It was now 2015. December 21. The anniversary of the earth's downfall.

Dylan sat with his family at the dinner table. His father said nothing, his mother looked cautiously at the window. " Everything will be fine mom." Dylan reassured his mother. " They'll find a cure." But Dylan had no way of knowing this. He stared at his plate and didn't look up. He could see his reflection in the plate. His Normally straight black hair was now messy. He kept thinking of other things he had forgotten as he heard a scraping at the door. His father got the shotgun they kept near the door. Before a shot went off, a dog blasted through the door, reducing it to splinters. It bit Dylan's father instantly and the shotgun's blast only hit the table. Dylan grabbed a steak knife and drove the blade into the dog's back. This only made it mad. Dylan took his father's gun and shot the dog, which fell on the floor. Dylan looked at his father. He was already becoming one of them. Dylan took the knife out of the dog's back and slit his father's throat. He would die normally this way. He looked over to his mother. A bullet from the shotgun shell had hit her chest. Dylan now had no family. But his thoughts ended when the dog sprang up and bit his leg. With a shriek of pain, Dylan fell. He felt fire in his leg. He had no choice. Taking a broken piece of glass, he cut his throat.

Dylan woke up screaming. The painful memory had been recounted in his dreams yet again. He looked at his leg. He had no scars, but he had three years to live. Only three. He used to have six. In 2012, he had six. It was 2015 now. He had a scar on his neck. He hadn't succeeded in suicide. He was only left with no family and a horrible realization that animals could be infected. He was with a group of survivors.

Alyssa, who was sixteen, was driving their F-250 down a dirt road into pretty much deserted wastelands. She had joined the convoy after her zombified brother tried to kill her. Then there was Viktor, who was Russian. He moved to the US in hopes of safety from the infection, but no luck. Lucas, who had chosen to leave home even before his family died, and Molly, her parents died saving her from a hoard of infected citizens. All were around sixteen, had guns, and had knowledge of this apocalypse. Unlike others, who had desperately tried to rebuild their old societies, these teenagers had faced reality.

They knew what was happening was permanent.


	2. Thoughts of a dead man

Lucas tossed Dylan a granola bar. " Eat up. You'll need it." He told Dylan. Dylan took it and began to eat. Alyssa opened the door of the moving car, which hit a lone zombie and left it's head rolling down a hill. " So," She began. " Kill of the week?"

" It's only Sunday." Lucas said. " You'll lose that title."

" Like you could do better." She told him. Lucas smiled and made a very obscene hand gesture towards Alyssa. Dylan didn't understand. How could his friends be joking around, when their world had been eradicated? The world they used to love had been destroyed by a plague that had been the very cause of his life being shortened so drastically. He would die in 2018 and there wasn't anything he could do about it. He hadn't told anyone about this. He didn't plan to. He knew of no way to stop his death. And he wasn't trying. Why would he want to be alive in this world?

He shook that thought out of his head. He knew he needed to live the rest of his life as best as he could. He still had friends. Everyone in the truck had become his new family. Maybe not his old family, but they were company. He couldn't imagine being alone in a world like this. He would have died by now.

Or Would he? He didn't die by cutting his throat. Maybe he would only die on the set date in three years. Where he would die, regardless of the events around him. Was this considered immortality? No, he could die. He would die. But not now.


	3. Rigor Mortis

Dylan had been thinking about his death for weeks. He had only told Molly, who only replied " Dylan, you've got three years. Don't worry about it."

He couldn't just stop worrying. His lifespan was ticking away, getting shorter every minute. His friends, other than Molly, had no clue about his death. These thoughts were driving him mad, so he forced his concentration back on reality.

Alyssa had started a fire. They were in a cave, which they had sealed by parking the truck in front of the entrance. They could still get in the drivers seat if they needed, but they would camp here for the night.

They were boiling a small pot of water. Dylan asked why they didn't drink it now. Viktor replied " The infection spreads through food and water. This will take care of infection." Dylan didn't respond at first because he didn't understand Viktor's accent. Molly whispered in his ear what Viktor meant. So now Dylan was caught up. Once the water cooled, they all drank what they could. After a few hours of talking, they all went to sleep. Well, all but Dylan. He had snuck outside by squeezing through a small gap in the opening of the cave that wasn't covered by the truck.

He looked around. Hoping for answers to all this. Knowing he would find none. He was so afraid of his coming death, but at the same time wanted to die. Soon, he heard a noise, which turned out to be Molly.

" You should be asleep." She told him.

" Yeah, so should you."

" I'll be fine. I slept in the car."

" You still need rest. We all need rest."

" If we all need rest then you shouldn't be out here."

Dylan didn't see any point in arguing. Suddenly they heard a noise. It was a group of zombies. One was eating a severed head of some unfortunate citizen. Alyssa was the whole reason the zombies had found them. She had moved the truck. The zombies moved with terrifying speed. Dylan dove out of the way and pulled Molly out of the way. Alyssa ran over two zombies, but couldn't run over the others without crashing. Dylan stood up, and then woke Viktor and Lucas. Lucas had a pocketknife, but that wouldn't be much help against about ten zombies. Dylan searched for anything useful he could fight. Desperate, he ran towards the truck. He grabbed a pistol he had stolen from a dead policeman a few weeks earlier. He checked the clip. Only three bullets. He cursed under his breath and shot the first bullet. It hit the zombie between the eyes.

He fired the next shot and got the same results. But, his last shot missed. Alyssa took a burning stick from the fire and took a zombie's head off. But as they were fighting, Dylan saw why she had moved the truck in the first place. Zombie were pouring out of the cave. " GET IN!" Alyssa screamed at them. Lucas got in the passenger's seat and Dylan, Molly, and Viktor got in the bed of the truck.

Viktor looked at Dylan's gun and said, " Well shoot them!"

" Gun's empty!" Dylan told him.

Alyssa paid no mind to safety. She drove them into the city, which they always avoided. There were more zombies in cities. But this one had actual, living, humans. Not undead cannibals. The truck pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store. Once they stopped driving, Lucas called to Alyssa, " Way to stay in the speed limit."

" Shut it." She called back.

A man in all black clothing walked up them. " You aren't from here are you?"

They told him everything. He said his name was Carter. " My dad was a doctor, but he stopped working around anyone who had contracted the disease." He told them.

" Did you know animals could become infected?" Dylan asked him.

" No, but that's bad if they can."

" My parents were killed by an infected dog." He made sure to leave out a few key details.

" Scientists are referring to the infection as 'Rigor Mortis'" Carter told them. As they looked around, Dylan saw bodies being burned and poured into large pits. Lucas spoke up before he did.

" Uh, what's that?"

" Mass graves." Carter said. " They burn them to stop them from becoming undead, then they bury them."

" Great, anything else horribly unsettling about this place?" Alyssa said.

" Yeah. Gangs of survivors are killing lots of people." Carter continued. " the police aren't doing anything to stop them."

" If we've only got a handful of people still alive, then shouldn't they be stopping the gangs?" Molly questioned.

" Going around the fact that all the police are either dead, undead, or have left the police force, then yeah."

" Wait, if the police have guns on them when that Rigor Mortis thing sets in, then can they operate weapons." Lucas asked.

" Not that I know of." Carter said.

" What is Rigor Mortis anyway?" Dylan asked.

" Normally, just the body stiffening up after death. But now it's the whole process of becoming undead. First it looks like your dead. But eventually, your body decomposes at an alarming rate. At the same time, your bodies cells are being reanimated. Your mind doesn't work at all and you start feeding on anything that moves."

" Sorry I asked." Dylan said.

" How do you know this stuff anyway?" Alyssa asked him.

" Like I said, dad was a doctor. He researched the stuff that causes Rigor Mortis."

" And that is?" Lucas said.

Carter never answered him. The hoard that had been chasing them was back. All of the undead sprinting towards them. " Follow me!" Carter said.

They didn't bother with car. They all went running after Carter. Alyssa grabbed a gun off a dead policeman and started shooting into the crowd of zombies. Unfortunately, she only had a few bullets. She kept running after the others, but kept the gun.

They reached a huge building that looked like a hospital, threw open the door, and went inside.


	4. Hidden secrets

Dylan looked around. It was a hospital, but he didn't have much time to look around. Carter kept moving.

Dylan saw sickly people with grey skin. He remembered his father's grey skin as he transformed.

" Carter, they can't keep infected people locked up!" He said.

" I don't have control over it. I agree though. If they do change, then all the people who have normal sicknesses won't be able to fight back. Staff members have started using lethal injections to the ones that start changing, but those don't always work."

" Shoot 'em in the head." Alyssa said.

" That works. They won't have a way of coming back after that." Carter replied.

She smirked. Lucas stopped in front of a shelf with vials of blood samples.

" They're taking samples of infected blood? That's insane!" He said.

" A lot of the stuff the labs and hospital are doing is insane. They're taking way too many risks with their experiments. Part of the reason that dad quit working here." Carter said. They went down a few flights of stairs and entered a small room. Dylan saw pistol clips, so he reloaded his gun, then tossed one to Alyssa. They both took a few, just to be safe.

" Yeah, might want to stock up." Carter said.

" you'll need bullets."

They saw a small trap door under the box of ammunition. " Carter what's this?" Lucas asked.

" Uh, I've never seen it before."

Alyssa clicked off the safety of her gun. " Well, let's find out." And with that, she jumped down into the room. Dylan followed, then the others.

They saw a ton of sickening experiments. Tubes filled to the brim with thick black liquid witch they all knew was infected blood. Floating in some green liquid were a few zombie eyeballs. All without pupils. They walked down a dimly lit hallway and saw things that made Dylan sick. Viktor whispered, " America is very strange country."

" Hey, Viktor?" Alyssa said.

" What?"

" Shut up."

He stopped talking. They all stopped walking when they found a huge cage. Molly gasped, Lucas drew back, both Dylan and Alyssa pointed their guns at it.

Inside was an infected human. With it, three infected children. They snarled and splattered the floor in front of the cage with blood. Dylan kept looking around and found a door. Feeling it wasn't safe with the caged zombies, he opened the door. Carter and Alyssa followed. Lucas and Viktor tried to go too, but Dylan told them to stay with Molly.

Inside were pictures of the world before and after the plague. On small portable TV's, newscasts showing infected political figures were blaring. They almost didn't notice the man inside until Carter said, " Dad?"

The man was wearing a lab coat and looked like he hadn't slept for days. His hair was messed up way more than Dylan's, and he had a mad look in his eyes.

" Carter, son, what are you doing here?"

Ignoring his father's question, he said,

"Why are there caged zombies out there?"

" You'll learn soon enough." He said, taking out a syringe and filling it with infected blood.

" You infected those people?" Dylan yelled.

" Yes. Children, when subjected to Rigor Mortis, become infected far quicker than older subjects."

" You're insane!" Carter screamed.

Alyssa slipped her gun from her back pocket. Dylan knew her plan. He shot her a look. She knew what it meant. She nodded.

" but I can't let you get in the way of my plans." Carter's dad said, as he grabbed a gun off the table near him. He fired one shot. Dylan, before he had fired, had dropped. He saw Alyssa and Carter also hit the floor, hoping they hadn't been hit. Dylan pointed his gun at Carter's dad, but his gun was kicked out of his hand, then he got a kick to the face. Dylan spat out some blood. Alyssa shot the man in his shoulder. As he screamed, he threw open a door in the back that went to the hospital. " Dylan!" Alyssa screamed.

He looked over at Carter. He had been hit straight in the chest. " We have to get that guy!" Dylan said. They ran through the door, but the madman was gone. They kept running down the halls, pushing past people until they reached a stairwell.

When they got to the third floor they found Carter's dad standing in front of a window. He said, " This is our new world." And then smashed through the glass."


	5. Uncovering the truth

When they got back to the door near the caged zombies, Dylan opened it cautiously. He saw a zombie's body. Three zombie children lay dead on the blood soaked floor, and a broken pocketknife both of them knew was Lucas's.

They walked through about and inch of black blood until they reached the door they had entered the hospital. Alyssa reached for the doorknob, but Dylan caught her wrist. " That hoard is still out there, they just haven't found a way in yet. They went through a different exit and saw Molly, Viktor, and Lucas standing in the parking lot. Unfortunately, they found a hoard of zombies. Alyssa and Dylan started firing at them, but only a few were actually dying. Dylan cursed. They couldn't take all of these zombies. Dylan reloaded. They needed to get away from the hospital.

" Lucas," Dylan began. " You can hotwire a car, right?"

" It'll take a few minutes."

" I can buy you five minutes."

" That's more than I'll need." Lucas got to work on the car, and Dylan turned to Alyssa. " Give me your gun!"

" Uh, Dylan, you've lost it." she said.

" Toss me the gun!" He insisted. She threw the gun and he caught it. He started shooting into the crowd, hitting at least fifteen zombies in the head. He quickly reloaded. " Done!" Lucas yelled. Dylan threw the gun back to Alyssa. They all got into the car and sped off.

" so where's Carter?" Lucas asked.

" Dead." Alyssa told them. " His dad went crazy and shot him."

" Guys, this may be crazy," Dylan said. " but I think that Carter's dad started the infection."

" Wait, what?" Molly said.

" Think about it." Dylan went on. " He had all that crazy zombie stuff. He was infecting humans, he chose the hospital as his base of operations. It'd make sense."

" I wouldn't doubt it. I broke my knife killing the zombies in the cage. It took more to kill them though."

A horrible thought struck Dylan. " What if they're adapting? You know getting stronger?"

" Two words." Alyssa said. " We're screwed."

" Is there anywhere in the world that hasn't been infected?" Molly asked.

" Russia was demolished when I left." Viktor said. " Whole world is same way."

" Thanks for the good news man." Lucas said.

" Americans." Viktor said under his breath.

" Wait, Viktor," Dylan said. " When did you leave Russia?"

" Before everyone was dead, I boarded plane to America in order to escape plague. But when I got here, well, you know rest of story."

" So, at one point stuff was normal?" Dylan said.

" At a point. But infection spread quickly. I knew if I stayed in Russia, I would surely die."

" Airports closed in twenty-thirteen." Alyssa said.

" So, you left in twenty-twelve?" Dylan asked.

" Yes, comrade. It was only June."

" The infection started in Russia!"

" Oh, sure. Blame my country." Viktor then said something in Russian. Which Dylan didn't understand.

" I'm not saying you started it, I'm saying that Carter's dad had someone begin the infection there."


	6. Our new world

They pulled into the parking lot of a graveyard.

" Oh, this is fun. What now? Frolic amongst the gravestones?" Alyssa said.

" Very funny." Lucas said sarcastically.

" It's night time, the world's full of undead zombies. Good idea coming here Dylan." Molly said.

" Relax guys." Dylan said. " My old house is here. I want to see something."

They walked through the graveyard until they found Dylan's old house. It had been ravaged by time, but Dylan could recognize it. " My parents recorded a newscast showing a city in Russia that was overrun by infected people." Dylan said. They opened the door and saw bodies. Dylan's parents were now skeletal figures on the floor. He looked around some more and found a particularly large piece of glass. It had stained blood on it. As Dylan picked it up, the image of his failed suicide flashed in his mind. He dropped the piece of glass and, as it smashed on the floor, Dylan fell backwards. The scar on his neck flared with pain, and Lucas and Viktor caught him before he hit the floor. Grabbing his neck, he regained balance.

" You okay?" Lucas asked.

" Alyssa, you have the other gun. Come with me."

He didn't wait for a reply. He ran up the stairs to his parents room. " Why are we here?" She asked.

" The piece of glass. I used that when I tried to kill myself."

" You what?"

" Look." He moved his hair back enough for the scar to show. A long white scar across the side of his neck.

" When did you get this?" She asked.

" The day my parents died." He replied. He took a small remote off the bed and turned on the TV. Thankfully, it still worked.

" Watch this." He played a recorded broadcast showing Carter's dad being interviewed.

" And what do you think about this new sickness Mr. Harwood?" A reporter asked.

" Well," Began Carter's father. " This will spread. We have no cure so far, so it will spread. This may become our new world." Dylan shut off the TV.

" So he did start this!" Alyssa said.

" Yeah. Remember what he said before his death?" Dylan said.

"Yeah. But what does it mean?"

" I don't know yet, but it can't be good."


	7. The flaw in the plan

They had left the house. But Harwood's words still rang in Dylan's mind. " This may become our new world."

Dylan hated that man. Because his own life was ruined, countless numbers had died, The world was ruined, because of that man. Dylan hated this. Even if he wanted to die, he couldn't. He looked down at the floor and found an old, rusty nail. He looked at his gun.

Into the side of the gun, he carved the word "Calamity." He stared at the word for about five minutes, until Alyssa stopped the car. She got out and walked to a grocery store. " Why?" Lucas asked.

" Our food was in the truck." Alyssa said.

" So, you're gonna steal?"

" I was doing it before this." She said, taking a few things from the shelves. As they walked around, Viktor said. " Americans are so strange…"

" Hey, Viktor?" Alyssa said.

"What?"

" Shut up."

Dylan laughed. But they were interrupted. A man walked through the employees only door. He was holding a gun. Alyssa drew her gun, but kept it out of sight. The man surprised Dylan. He pistol whipped Dylan in the face Dylan's blood splattered on the floor. Alyssa shot her gun faster than the man anticipated. Unfortunately, her shot missed. Dylan stood and punched the man in the jaw. The man tackled Lucas who responded with another punch. The man went for Viktor and he managed to pistol whip him.

Viktor laughed. " It takes more than that to kill a Russian!" He grabbed the man's head and brought it down hard on his knee, Knocking the man unconscious.

" Well," Lucas said. " What now?"

Alyssa fired her gun. She dropped the clip on the dead man's body. Reloading, she said, " We leave and forget this happened."

" Wait," Dylan said. He took a folder from the man labeled in huge black letters, THE HARWOOD PROJECT. The folder had been hidden in the man's jacket, and looking through it, Dylan found a lot of his assumptions were right. Harwood started the infection, he planted the first doses in Russia, however, he didn't send anyone to plant them, he did it personally. " Well?" Molly questioned.

" Harwood started the infection in Russia. Then it spread. Harwood is dead, but we'll have to do a lot more to stop the infection." Dylan said.

" Stop the infection? Like we can do anything about it." Lucas said.

" We can. Look." Dylan tossed a sheet to Lucas that had information on an antidote. He read through it and said, " This is great, but we don't have the antidote."

" Way to state the obvious." Alyssa said.

" If we give a sample to scientists, they can duplicate it." Molly said.

" We just need a sample." Lucas said.

" Yeah." Dylan said. That was the only flaw in the plan. They didn't have a sample. Dylan looked desperately through the folder to find a way to get a sample, but no luck. Enraged, he cursed loudly and threw the folder to the floor.

Molly put a hand on his shoulder. " Dylan, calm down." He shook her away.


	8. Escape

Alyssa, Lucas, and Viktor had gone to the car. Dylan leaned on the wall outside and sighed. How would he ever find the antidote? Could he? If he did, then people could rebuild society properly. Eradicate the infection. Save lives. But there were too many gaps. They didn't have any antidote, they didn't know where to get any, they might be killed, all this was flying around in Dylan's mind.

Molly walked up. Compared to the night sky, her black clothes, and the darkness around them, her blond hair was like light. " You okay?"

" what do you think?" Was his reply.

" You don't have to take everything out on us you know." Her tone was serious, but she was slightly smiling, so Dylan didn't know if she was serious or not.

" Yeah I know. I really take all this for granted. My life could be worse." He said.

" Take what for granted?"

" Having friends. A chance to stop all this."

" We're all stressed, tired, and scared Dylan. All of us are acting like this." For once Dylan felt nervous around Molly. He started to smile.

" Yeah, you seem stressed and scared." She laughed.

" Well you know what I mean."

" Do I?" He said smiling.

" Hey." Lucas interrupted. " Look."

Dylan's moment of freedom from the apocalyptic world was gone. He looked at the paper Lucas was holding. On it, was the exact location of Harwood's lab.

" How much you wanna bet the antidote's there?" He said smiling.

" Luke, you're amazing!" Dylan said.

" It's actually not that far from here." Lucas said. " But I checked the area out, a gang has made shelter there. We can't drive all the way."

Dylan barely heard the last part. There was hope for everyone now. " then we'd better get moving." Dylan said.

In the morning, they immediately started driving. Making sure not to venture into gang territory. They eventually parked to rest. " So," Alyssa began. " What did you two talk about last night?" Dylan laughed and Molly began stammering defensively. All Viktor and Lucas did was sit and laugh at them. Dylan stopped laughing, Molly was blushing so much Viktor made the comment. " She is redder than soviet army." Which just made Lucas crack up.

Dylan didn't know what had happened, but a few weeks ago, he had wondered how his friends could be joking, but now, he joined in. Having fun with his friends as if everything was normal. As if nothing mattered. For a moment, Dylan forgot why they were there. He also didn't notice he had his arm around Molly. Everyone seemed different. His friends didn't have a depressed mood about them anymore. They looked more alive and happy. This was Dylan's escape. Not death. But that would be coming sooner than any of them thought.


	9. One down, four to go

They reached gang territory by nightfall. They got out of the car and Dylan pulled out his gun. Alyssa pulled hers, and Lucas had taken his from the man in the store. " Alyssa, you'll be fine on your own?" Dylan asked.

" Yeah, I'll be fine."

He turned to Lucas. " You and Viktor pair up."

" you got it."

He turned to Molly, but she said, " Yeah, I'll go with you."

" Luke, Viktor, take the car. You'll get a call if any of us need you."

" Sounds like a plan." Lucas confirmed.

" Alright let's go." and with that, they separated.

The first gang member came sooner than Dylan anticipated. He found them before Dylan knew when to react. Luckily, Molly grabbed his wrist, broke it, and then snapped his neck. She took a butterfly knife off the gang member and then Dylan realized something. The guy was wearing exactly the same clothes as the man in the store. They wanted Dylan and the others to be there.

" Molly, we have to leave now."

" Why?"

" Look, we've fallen into a trap!"

She cursed. " Well it's too late now. The others will already be in the building." Dylan knew she was right. The others would be dead if the gang found them.

BANG!

Dylan bolted, Molly close behind. A ball of fire erupted from behind the building. Gunshots rang out, he heard screams, but from who, he wasn't sure. They kept running until they saw a horrifying sight.

The car they had been driving had fire coming from under the hood. Bullet holes were in the sides of the car, and Viktor's body was limp against the steering wheel. Blood ran down his face, and he wasn't breathing. The passenger's side door was open and Lucas was nowhere to be found. Molly had tears streaming down her cheeks. " Lucas is alive." Dylan told her.


	10. Lucas

Lucas had shot seven gang members to death, snapped three necks, and stabbed two. He was getting revenge for Viktor's death. When he found the gang leader he put the gun right between the man's eyes. " You won't do it." the man said laughing.

" you wanna bet?" Lucas screamed. He punched the man as hard as he could and heard the man's jaw break. He punched repeatedly until his hand ached. The man had blood all over his face. The man now lay on the floor. Lucas returned the gun to the bridge of the man's nose. As he fired, the man's pistol put a bullet right through Lucas's chest. Screaming in pain, Lucas fell back. The last view he had was his hand against his chest, now soaked in blood.


	11. Alyssa

Alyssa had immediately ran into the forest near the gang's building. She had pieced the puzzle together and figured out the gang's plan to kill them. Now she ran through the snowy forest breathing heavily.

She reached a clearing and waited. But soon she heard the sound of zombies. And when she saw them, they stopped. Blood dripping from their lips hinted that they had just killed. Alyssa shot at them for about thirty minutes, but they just kept coming. She fired, but only a clicking sound emitted from the gun. She cursed and ran, dodging trees and rocks, trying to keep from slipping in the snow, but this was harder than she thought, she kept slipping and eventually the zombies caught up with her. She ran faster than before for about a mile. But then the snow under her collapsed.

She slid for a few feet, but then fell off the side of a cliff. She fell about twenty feet and landed on her feet. She screamed as both her legs cracked on impact.

She lay in the snow for hours before she froze to death.


	12. Molly

Molly had somehow separated from Dylan. She screamed for Dylan, but no answer came. Then she realized her mistake. Zombies went by sound and smell. They heard her. She ran, clutching her knife, but she knew she was dead. And then she felt a pain in her shoulder. An infected bird slashed at her. Soon more came. And Molly eventually stopped screaming.


	13. Dylan

I lay in the snow, blood pouring out of what used to be a scar. My friends were dead. I felt the searing pain in my neck getting worse. The moment I thought would happen in three years had happened in weeks. I hadn't thought about how it would happen, but I knew it would happen. The hours I had spent preparing had proved useless. I was terrified as I lay dying. Scared of what it would feel like to die. Did heaven or hell exist? Or would I be plunged into darkness? Would I wake up? Was I dreaming? Could I wake up and end this horrible nightmare?

No. It was real. My family was dead. My friends were dead. I was dying. And I wasn't waking up. Maybe it was better this way. I would be with them again. Everyone who was dead. I could see them again.

But as this thought entered my mind, everything went into darkness.


	14. Epilogue

Dylan woke in a hospital bed. Lucas looking at him. Dylan noticed through Lucas's unzipped jacket, a bandage on his chest, and blood in the center.

" Luke, what-" Lucas cut him off.

" Molly is alive." He said, answering Dylan's first question.

" And the others?"

" Viktor was breathing. He had been wounded and unconsicous, but not dead."

" But I checked, he wasn't breathing." Dylan said.

" Dylan, you got bit by an infected dog a few years ago right?"

" Yeah, why?"

" Dementia. Animals aren't as potent as full zombified humans."

" you mean..."

" Yeah. you thought you had three years to live. But that was a thought your very slightly infected mind had come up with. As well as your scar opening up."

" Wait, if that wasn't real, about me dying, then how did I survive suicide?"

" Dog bite. Rigor mortis affecting the wound. Since the bite and cut happened very close to the same time, your wound reanimated the dead cells."

Dylan Remembered Carter's words. About Rigor Mortis affecting dead cells. Then he remembered something.

" What about Alyssa?" He asked.

As to answer his question, Alyssa walked in. She had a crutch. Her left leg was in a cast.

" What happened?" Dylan asked her.

" Fell about twenty feet. But a search-and-rescue team found me before I froze to death."

" search-and-rescue team?"

" Yeah." Lucas said. " The city we're in had people check for survivors. They found me before I bled to death, they found Viktor, they found Molly, and of course, you."

" Where is Molly?"

Again, his question was answered by the door. Molly walked in with three long stitched cuts across her right cheek.

" Infected birds." Molly said, before he could ask.

Dylan asked many more questions and then pieced the story together.

Harwood created the infection and planted the first dose in Russia, but due to working around the infection for so long, he became insane. Then, when the teams found all of them, they found Harwood's antidote and copied it. The infection was still out there, just not in this city. Now they would have lives again. They were safe.


End file.
